Hafta 482: JDS-BJP in Karnataka, inheritance tax debate, issues with PMLA

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Jayashree Arunachalam and Shardool Katyayan are joined by The News Minute’s Pooja Prasanna and lawyer Vakasha Sachdev.

On the Karnataka polls, Pooja says the JDS and BJP are “better allies” than the Congress and JDS since “their target base does not overlap. Both parties bring something new and fresh to the table”. She adds that the “myth of the Vokkaligas being secular is nonsense”.

The panel discusses the inheritance tax debate, with Vakasha saying the tax has a solid rationale behind it “from a social justice perspective”. Jayashree says the matter escalated into a controversy because people are “conflating a lot of things, like what Modi said about the Congress taking away people’s money”. Shardool adds, “Most of the people arguing about this tax won’t have to pay it because it applies to the creamy layer of society.”

Vakasha then explains why the PMLA is problematic. On the state of the Indian judiciary, he says over the years, “we’ve had our justice system constantly become a voice for the establishment”, adding that there is a lack of critique of the courts. Abhinandan says people are possibly “afraid of critiquing the court because of contempt of court...so courts have completely gone out of scrutiny”.

This and a whole lot more. Tune in!

We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. 

Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. 

Download the Newslaundry app.

General elections are here and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us.

Timecodes

00: 04:31 - Headlines

00: 12:49 - Lok Sabha elections: Karnataka 

00: 26:30 - Inheritance tax

01: 00:00 - Prevention of Money Laundering Act

01: 28:55 - Letters 

01: 57:30 - Recommendations 

 Hafta letters, recommendations, songs and references

Check out our previous Hafta recommendations.

Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Hassan Bilal and Umrav Singh.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.